“It is now down to Network Rail to start taking this issue
seriously, to understand the deep-seated grievance felt by their
staff and to come forward with a renewed offer which protects pay
and jobs.”

A second union, the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association
(TSSA), has also voted on industrial action with results expected
on Friday.

Bosses and ministers were quick to close ranks, attacking the
workers’ democratic decision in the frankest terms.

Network Rail boss Mark Carne told the Guardian: “The railways
are a vital public service, and industrial action would have a
massive impact on millions of passengers as well as freight
distribution across Britain. It cannot be right that the unions
can hold the country to ransom in this way.”

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin echoed the firm’s view,
telling the paper: “I condemn any industrial action that
disrupts the travelling public. I want to see Network Rail and
the unions back round the negotiating table, hammering out a
deal.

“Rail passengers will not thank the unions for inflicting
this unnecessary disruption.”

If the strike goes ahead it may bring about the first major
post-election clash between a militant British workforce and one
of the new government’s most committed free market ideologues.

Newly appointed business secretary and multimillionaire banker
Sajid Javid has already pledged to claw back workers’ rights to
strike with new and far-reaching Thatcherite-style anti-union
laws – including a legally-enforced requirement that 50 percent
of member vote to strike before action can take place.

Javid told the BBC: “The changes that we want to make to
strike laws are proportionate, they’re sensible. If you look at
other countries and what they've done they’re not too
dissimilar.”

Union bosses countered, saying such a move would make legal
strikes by workers trying to protect their livelihoods “close
to impossible.” They also point out that had the
Conservatives lived by the same minimum voting rule, they would
not have won the general election last week.

As the standoff looms, it has also been revealed that the
government expense watchdog IPSA believes that a £7,000 increase
in MPs pay should go ahead, bringing annual pay up from £67,060
to £74,000 – many times the average wage for British workers.